If an action-intensive comic book movie seems like an odd fit for Firth, he was also a little skeptical about it....
Firth: “I was afraid it was ridiculous. I think what’s brilliant about Matthew is that he takes people’s expectations and likes to mess with them. When we first met the year before, he said, “One of the reasons I’m casting you is because you’re probably the last person anyone could imagine kicking people and kicking off the villains.” And that was the surprise he wanted to pull. And he said, by the way, “You’re going to have to do it. Are you up to it?” That’s one of the reasons he got me so early, to start training. He said, “You’re going to hate me by the end of it,” and sure enough, the Jackie Chan training team comes to my house and they get to work on me. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed myself so much in my life. I realized that I’d made assumptions about myself that meant I had probably been neglecting something that I might have enjoyed for years if I’d got to it earlier.”
For X-men: First Class and Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn it was all about bringing back the style of the spy movies he missed as a kid...
Vaughn: “We missed all the spy movies we loved as kids, whether it was Bond or ‘In Like Flint.’ They had a sense of humor as well as being a thriller. With [Kingsman], we’re subversing the spy movie genre as we know it."
Firth plays a super spy who must teach his young nephew the tricks of the trade. Kingsman: The Secret Service opens October 24th.
